Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Maaden) is planning to complete a SR7bn ($1.9bn) loan deal by October and has appointed the local Banque Saudi Fransi as documentation bank.

The deal was around 2.5 times oversubscribed and the firm managed to convince banks to agree to pricing of 85 basis points above the Saudi interbank offered rate (Sibor) in early June.

A source close to the deal says that the first drawdown is not expected to occur until early 2013, meaning Maaden is not currently under any pressure to finalise the loan.

The deal will be funded by a group of banks comprising the local National Commercial Bank, Samba, Riyad Bank, Banque Saudi Fransi, Al-Rajhi Bank, Bank al-Jazeera, Bank al-Bilad, Saudi Investment Bank, and the US’ JP Morgan.